Archaeological Espionage
by TheBatBrain
Summary: My first fan-fic. think of a failed attempt at a crossover between James Bond and Indiana Jones with Sonic characters. rated for possible future language, or current language if that's your way of thinking. Please read and be fair on me... or not. IT'S BAAAAAAACK!
1. Chapter 1 the brief

Archaeological espionage

**Hooray! I have finally gotten round to typing up my first full story. I hope I can type something half decent. Before I begin I wish to say that none of what I write here has anything owned by me, except of course the narrative and what it does to the characters owned by SEGA, which I also don't own. Also please don't find it applicable to leave a horrendous review, rage on me or hunt me down and kill me, whichever is at your convenience. Please note that I am writing a full story for the first time in my life as I prefer to make it up as I go along in true actors fashion so please forgive plot holes, typing errors and the characters... OOC-ness. This is more to get the idea out of my head than craft 'amazing!' fan-fiction. **

**Are you sitting comfortably? ...Too bad the story's beginning...**

**Chapter 1- Make the call sir... I insist**

G.U.N commander Tower, not in the best of moods at the very best of times; what a grouchy man many think, these people are of course, right. Today was no exception to his rule on life: 'There is a huge responsibility on my shoulders, there is no time for relaxation.' To make his mood worse Robotnik had reared his balding bespectacled head with a base located by drone in the desert of Shamar. Great another 'take over the world' attempt only for it to be stopped by a bright blue hedgehog while at the same time making G.U.N look completely incompetent!

G.U.N (pronounced GUN) was particularly interested in some of the research done on the area. This wasn't a simple base build. There was a dig site in place before the Eggman placement which had discovered an artefact of great historical importance; a diadem with various markings of the echidna tribe from the age of old. The commander wasn't fazed; the doctor had gotten his hands on relics before, and every time his plan was foiled by releasing a power bigger than him. Soldiers then found the relic and gave it to proper archaeologists around Mobius.

This time the relic was far more... interesting. This seemed to be part of a great weapon. After Chaos had destroyed the planet with the chaos emeralds power, various survivors made a pledge to prepare for another God blows up the world style disaster. The would build a weapon made of ten pieces which when con-joined made a super weapon which could destroy the power of the chaos emeralds while leaving the emeralds themselves intact, in case the energy was required to rebuild. Imagine Eggman with such a weapon. No rogue deity would defy him and not even a super powered hedgehog could defeat his scheme. The empire of Robotnik would begin. G.U.N wanted it also a weapon like that could be very useful in their anti-Eggman campaign and as insurance to guard against Sonic and his little band of freedom fighters.

But back to Tower; why was he so angry? The answer was well the answer. In one name Team Dark. How the commander was in 'disliking' of them. First off there was E-123 Omega or as every other agent called him "death machine." A robot with dual chainguns and rocket launchers plus who knows what else; in an espionage squad? Yes he is the best distracting factor in the force and his memory units are twice that of G.U.N's main database. But he presents an un-wieldy problem which is his method of action. He always decided that if the target was presumably hostile he decided to annihilate it. Be it a giant EGG Tortoise or an agent getting to the water cooler first. For a robot with seemingly no emotions he is a sociopath.

Agent Jewel, or Rouge the bat as a legal, and birth (seemingly), name. No one can blend into a crowd or pass of as someone else like she can. Other agents say that put her in a room with an unsuspecting suspect she can get every bit of information out of them with the suspect coming out either very pleased or cut and bruised. These same people say that she always say that as interrogator "It doesn't matter whether the person is a man, woman amphibian or similar I'll get the words needed out of them, as long as it's Mobian I'm not a weird."(What she means by this statement I have no idea) She even has a favourite type of suspect; a female fox for reasons that should be saved for the mature audiences (apparently). Her stealth skills are un-matched by almost all, unfortunately they appeared from thievery. These skills should make her perfect if her 'all for one' mentality wasn't so prevalent. Her blending in skills makes her almost impossible to trace, her interrogation skills are trained on agents, nurses, doctors soldiers, commanding officers etcetera which have caused several scandals with the press with 'affairs' and 'internal rebellions'. Her stealth and thievery skill have had her pickpocket the commander for 25 rings for a drink with her mates and has recently stolen the prime minister of Spagonias 20 carat engagement ring for her fiancé.

Finally there was Shadow the hedgehog; the ultimate life form. He was the reason the commander's friend Maria had died. Of course Shadow had lost his best and in his words 'only' friend. The commander had accepted the irony of it all. The organisation he runs had its soldiers board the base and kill everyone there including his friend. This same organisation he now controls completely. He remains adamant on this fact though if Shadow hadn't been created G.U.N wouldn't have attacked the ark. Shadow is the services best agent. His proficiency with almost all fire-arms makes him strong in a fight. Give him a chaos emerald which, he has at all times, of course, times his prowess in any form of combat by 100. The science experiment is also by the book, which he has re-written to sound less connected, more threatening and less violent, for some reason. He can sneak in metal shoes as he is the best of them. But finally he is a scientists dream, maybe because he is a creation of aliens and science (mostly science), every gadget and weapon under the sun gets its field test done by him. They are even thinking of upgrading his hover skates.

What got Commander Tower miffed however were their tactical suggestions... (Tower hated their opinions any way, like he hates most things) "You intend the best course of action for a possible super-weapon threat. Is to temporarily hire the echidna?"The commander inquired in a curious, but no less annoyed tone. "His possible knowledge of his own cultures language plus the fact that as a treasure hunter his skills are..." He looked across to the bat next to him who was sternly eying him to say 'If you finish that sentence I'll deck you.' "...Rarely matched, he would be invaluable in this operation to stop the doctor, if that is what you are intending." Shadow wasn't living up to his ego this time, if something caused Shadow to think that he needed _HELP_ than he really must be worried. Or Rouge persuaded him, the latter is more likely. "Shadow that last line indicates un-trustworthiness to your superiors" Commander Tower was in no mood to take this rubbish from his agents. "Of course not Tower" The ebony and red hedgehog said sarcastically, bowing in much the same manner. "The name you're looking for is sir!" The commander barked. "I also don't see why we have to rely on one of Sonic's friends! Agent Jewel's more than capable at finding these artefacts and Robotnik is probably on his way to find the rest! I will not sit by and see you make these tactically unwise decisions!" "Now you listen here mister high and mighty!" great, now Rouge had snapped, her screaming was one of the things highest up on the 'occupational hazards' sheet for new agents I am talking in literal terms. Usually her fuse was longer, but some wire clippers always come round when potential bad-mouthing of a certain red guardian came round. "This type of mission is not something I am... used to" (deal 20 damage to Rouge's pride) "I think the echidna will be very useful in a situation like this." Rouge had recently been to relationship counselling if you couldn't tell. "And if you call me 'Agent Jewel' or, heck, even utter a single _syllable_ of it I will kick you down onto the metal gutter!" My, my someone was filled with angst today. "Young lady I can have you down for threats against the safety of others!" The Commander had had it! "Enough of this! If someone cannot give me a good reason or going along with this 'plan' then would you kindly get the hell out of my office!" "PERSON DESIGNATED AS [SIR] I HAVE YET TO HAVE GIVEN MY OPINION ON THE LIFEFORM IDENTIFIED AS [THE ULTIMATE LIFE FORM; SHADOW]'S PLAN." What the heck? Omega the killing machine, trying to reason with an already infuriated Tower? This should be interesting. "THIS UNIT CAN IDENTIFY THE AGENT IDENTIFIED AS [ROUGE] HAS HAD A SUDDEN REALEASE OF THE EMOTION IDENTIFIED AS [ANGER] BY YOUR NEGATIVE REACTION OF THE ECHIDNA ON RECORD AS BEING CALLED [KNUCKLES] THIS IS UNDERSTANDABLE AS THE AGENT IDENTIFIED AS [ROUGE] HAS QUITE OBVIOUSLY HAD A ROMANTIC INTERESTFOR THE ECHIDNA ON RECORD AS BEING CALLED [KNUCKLES] SINCE THE FIRST TIME THESE TWO LIFEFORMS OCCUPIED THE SAME SPACE. **"I DO NOT!"** (Nice job calming her down E-123) **"AND, EVEN _IF _I LIKED HIM, IT WOULDN'T AFFECT MY OPINION ON THIS PLAN WHAT-SO-EVER!"**

"ONE OF THE STAGES OF THE PHSYCOLOGY OF RELATIONSHIP IS DENIAL SO THOSE LOUDLY VOLUMED STATEMENTS ARE IRRELAVENT TO THE ARGUEMENT PRESENT BY THIS UNIT[such comments have now been deleted from record]. PERSON DESIGNATED AS [SIR] THIS UNIT REQUESTS PERMISSION TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT ON THIS PLAN TO AGENT IDENTIFIED AS ROUGE... (Before you get incredibly annoyed, I shall tell you that normally Omega talks quite casually in an evil robot kind of way, He also without anyone knowing had go a new memory bank with a complete psychologists' guide so he can now judge the emotional levels of his subject or to see how insane they, medically, are (G.U.N scientists are weird). He is probably talking in 'Robot speak' just to poke fun at Commander Tower and insult his intelligence. Anyway back to what Omega was saying.) ..."THIS UNIT WOULD SUGGEST A SHORT VACATION TO RELAX AND EMPTY THE AGENT IDENTIFIED AS [ROUGE]'S HEAD OF EMOTIONS WHICH GET IN THE WAY OF HER DUTIES. STATION SQAURE OR SOLEANNA WOULD BE THE MOST SUITABLE ARRANGMENTS." Everyone, both man and mobian simply stood and stared at the suddenly mindful computer operated well _mind_. Rouge broke the awkward silence before anyone else could retaliate. "Well if I ever need as psychiatrist I'll know who to call!" finally some joy returned to her. "You and me both." Whispered Shadow, apparently for the first time in his long existence, dumbstruck (I know a shocking revelation ). "Agent Jewel's... (Shadow had to restrain Rouge before she roundhouse-kicked the commander in the head)... state of working is, while something to put on record is not what we came to talk about. I want to know why you devils think that knuckles would help you in this mission, what would keep him in line and what will be done about that damn rock of his!" "He'll help 'cause he owes me, and he seems to have a (she put on an extremely sarcastic and mocking tone) 'purty little luvy duvy place in his heart for dear old me!' and who can really blame him?" Rouge's mind then went away probably thinking about the red echidna that was in every one of her dreams. "THESE FEELINGS THE ECHIDNA ON RECORD BEING CALLED [KNUCKLES] MOST PROBABLY HAS FOR THE AGENT IDENTIFIED AS [ROUGE] IS MOST CERTAINLY RECIPORATED FROM SAID SUBJECT; ANALYSIS DIFFICULT; REQUIRE MORE EVIDENCE FROM THE ECHIDNA ON RECORD AS BEING CALLED KNUCKLES." "Oh, shut, up, Omega!" Poor Rouge, everyone was on her case today. "Rouge thank you for solving part of my problem" Tower then turned to Shadow "And what can _you_ do to help?" adding extra venom to his voice. "Simple, I'm the one keeping him in line I'll make sure he cooperates." At this shadow flashed his holstered fifty calibre revolver, short and chunky in a classic gun-metal grey. Shadow still referred to it as 'scrap' but at least he had affectionately called it something, even if it was a bit weird to name a gun. "And my various acquaintances will give us a good hand as well." 'DAMN' thought Tower they had thought this through. "I see; finally who will keep the master emerald protected, he won't leave it un-guarded and GUN soldiers are thin on the ground when it comes to spares." (Spares, he thought of his men in that sought of way?) "PERSON DESIGNATED AS [SIR] THIS UNIT WILL DO THE DUTY OF THE PROTECTION OF THE [MASTER EMERALD] THIS UNIT WILL ELIMINATE ANY OF ENEMY HOSTILE UNDER THE NAME OF [DR IVO ROBOTNIK]'S FORCES THAT TRY TO STEAL IT"

This conversation was over and team dark had won. Commander Tower could no longer think of any good arguments against this plan so he regrettably and reluctantly conceded. "Alright I'll let you do this 'plan' of yours, mark my words if you fail in this mission. I will have you court-marshalled for failure to keep up to standards you were hired for!" "_Yes sir!"_ replied Shadow obviously thinking that the commander wouldn't remember his threat. "You got it chief!" Rouge announced in her usual cheeky tone. "THIS UNIT HAS UNDERSTOOD PERSON DESGNATE AS [SIR]'S THREATENING SATEMENT, THIS UNIT WOULD ALSO REQUEST THAT THE PERSON DESIGNATED AS [SIR] SHOULD GO TO ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASSES AND POSSIBLE THERAPY TREATMENTS" "Just get going before I have you dismantled!. Before you leave however I must order you this. You shall not let Sonic and his rag-tag 'freedom fighters' knowing about this. I want this to be a strictly GUN affair." "Looking for some good publicity, are we hun'?" said Rouge who smirked as the team left the office to the hanger which they had already prepared a helicopter in before even getting permission from command.

**AND SO OUR HEROES ADVENTURE BEGINS! STARTING WITH TEAM DARK LOOKING TO SWELL THEIR RANKS WITH A GREAT TREASURE HUNTER TO... WAIT THIS I THE WRONG SHOW! RIGHT I'M OFF! UNTIL NEXT TIME! BE SEEING YOU SOON! (IF THE EPISODE GETS MADE!) Well that was weird, anyway, as the super smash brothers battlefield theme ebbs of into the distance prepare for next time fan fiction readers! If you would please review and in those reviews try and guess as to what I was referencing just then (hint; big loud narrator and smash brothers?) see you soon with a shout out to all those who got it right!**

**Until next time farewell and for great villainy! **


	2. Chapter 2 team up

Archaeological espionage

**Chapter 2 is here! And who found out the reference I made to the great machinima known as Smashtasm? (Yes that is a plug but please don't take offense I just love their episodes) The story is going well and I hope you are enjoying it. To begin once again, I do not own SEGA, sonic team it's IP or anyone who works on Smashtasm or what references I may make here aren't mine I will make in this; I only own these words you read.**

**Ready...steady... false start...! OK now you can GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**Chapter 2- recruiting equals fisticuffs?**

In the G.U.N chopper the situation was tense, would Knuckles the lastjoin their cause? Would he say no? Would he just go off hunting them for himself? After several hours of quiet contemplation and stealthy night flying, only stopping for Omegas routine oil change which he demanded be done or else he would 'eliminate' the helicopter. Rouge broke the contemplative silence first  
>"Omega, why did you say that I should take leave because of my emotions getting in the way of my work? I'll tell you now that I am fine." Rouge then let of a nervous laugh and then pretended to refocus on the helicopter despite it easily flying by its own on autopilot.<br>"ROUGE THE REASONING BEHIND THE BREAK IS COMPLETELY LEGITIMATE, ALSO THE REASONING BEHIND THE TWO DESTINATIONS WAS THAT PRINCESS ELISE IS MAKING A VISIT TO STATION SQAURE WITH THE BIGGEST DIAMOND FROM THE COUNTRY, WHILE IN THE MEAN TIME THE OTHER CROWN JEWELS ARE STILL IN THE CASTLE WHICH I THOUGHT WOULD BE EASY FOR YOU TO BREAK INTO WITH THE LOWER NUMBER OF GUARDS."

Rouge was hitting herself, how could she have forgotten that, the easiest of thefts? For someone of her calibre anyway; all Rouge was doing now was trying to think of a good reason and that she didn't 'forget'.  
>"I was thinking about it, it's so much more fun when the guard count is higher... and... I'd prefer to take all of the jewels in one go. I didn't forget about this great opportunity, no siree!" followed by incredibly nervous giggles. "Hmph!" An exasperated shadow said; that was the worst excuse ever! Rouge heard that sarcastic noise "<br>What are you trying to say Shadow, don't you believe me? Rouge was a bit miffed with everyone on her case. Those 'relationship therapy classes' were a waste of rings weren't they?  
>"No I believe you bat, save your anger for any of the doctors robots we might see. I don't want another incident involving a helicopter and you getting over emotional again." (What incident was that?)<br>Rouge started up "**WHAT DO YOU MEAN GETTING OVER EMOTION..."  
><strong>"ROUGE AND SHADOW IF YOU WOULDSTOP BICKERING AS WE ARE REACHING ANGEL ISLAND AND I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS TEAM LOOK RESPECTABLE BEFORE WE LAND OR I WILL ELIMINATE THE HELICOPTER!." Everyone shut up. Omega didn't know how to lie himself (As he told them any way).

Knuckles was doing what knuckles did best, guarding, I always say that if Knuckles was hired as a security guard that building wouldn't ever be stolen from again. Knuckles did have one weakness, getting tired, Knuckles was thinking about hitting the hay in his shack but then saw something moving in the distance, 'What the hell' Knuckles thought as the blob in the distance became more defined until it was revealed to be a, G.U.N helicopter? Knuckles then saw who was flying it.  
>"Oh crap" said Knuckles out loud; Rouge was coming, were G.U.N wanting the master emerald that much? Was Eggman really that dangerous that they needed it? Enough questions, Rouge and her friends had never gotten the emerald and tonight would be no exception.<p>

The helicopter landed and Team dark stepped out right in front of the shrine. Well now or never.  
>"Hi knuckie'!" Rouge shouted in a flirty tone.<br>"And what do you want!" Knuckles growled back, still on the defensive he isn't getting distracted by her again.  
>"Come on knuckie, that's no way to talk to a girl!" Rouge was slowly picking away at his conscience like she always does.<br>"If you want the master emerald you can forget it batgirl!" Knucles snarled at her.  
>'obviously Rouge isn't getting through to him' Omega computed "THIS TIME ECHIDNA AGENT ROUGE IS NOT HERE FOR YOUR GIANT GEM; AND THOUGH MUCH TO THESE TO LIFEFORMS CHARGRIN GUN IS IN NEED OF YOUR ASISSTANCE."<br>Omega we don't_ need _his help he'll just be extremely useful for our mission." Shadow not building up his ego at all there (*hint* obvious sarcasm *hint*).  
>This revelation confused the red guardian, "Why the hell would you need my help?"<br>Shadow filled him in, "there is a weapon which can remove the energy given by the chaos emeralds to a being it was designed to stop Chaos destroying the world again. Imagine the doctor with such a weapon."  
>"Imagine GUN with such a weapon. And it is meant to stop Chaos. Despite the fact that Chaos almost destroyed it not too long ago..." Knuckles stated matter of factly; "And you want me to find this weapon..."<br>Rouge interrupted him "it's 'these weapon pieces' actually, there are 10 of 'em." Rouge said with a smirk that this would mean knuckles staying with them for a good while.  
>"Ten of them! Who will guard the master emerald while I'm gone!" Knuckles was quite obviously furious.<br>"I SHALL GUARD THE EMERALD IN YOUR ABSENCE; ANY POTENTIAL THEIVES THAT COME NEAR WILL BE ELMINATED."  
>"Hmmm... what if I say no?" knuckles inquired, he still didn't want to go along with this. "Then this little piece of scrap here..." Shadow pulled out his revolver and aimed it at the master emerald "... will have an unfortunate 'miss-fire'".<p>

Knuckles jumped him; you don't threaten the emerald if you don't want to be punched into oblivion. In one upper-cut Knuckles had launched Shadow into the air and he flew a good 50 feet before he landed were the got into a scrap in which knuckles got shadow on the floor, one of his fist pounding down on him the other retraining Shadows arm from reaching his revolver.  
>"I SHALL HELP YOU SHADOW!" Omega pulled out one of his (many) rocket launchers and aimed it at the brawl. "ERROR, I CAN NOT DEDUCE IN THIS LIGHT WHICH ONE IS KNUCKLES"<br>"Shoot the one who's winning dumb-ass!" Shouted Shadow; obviously getting beaten up removes all manners. Shadow then managed to tilt his head and see what Omega was actually doing. "No Omega, NO! As your commanding officer I order you to..."

"STOP!" Rouge screamed at the top of her lungs. Every other person in the vicinity stopped what they were doing and everyone, even Omega, all thought the same thing, 'Oh crap'.  
>"Right Omega put, that, damn, rocket, launcher, away!" Omega obeyed without question.<br>"Knuckles! Get off Shadow; seriously I thought you two were better than this! Shadow get up and dust yourself off we are on a mission!" Rouge bellowed deafening the echidna now next to her (Not an easy feat what with him having no discernable ears.)  
>"<em>Sorry mum<em>" Shadow got a smack across the face for this sarcastic comment "Ow! (*hint*not sarcasm*hint*) Why did you do that!"  
>"Because you were being way to cheeky that's why!" Rouge screamed "And YOU..!" Rouge turned to the echidna you was chuckling while she was shouting at Shadow was a bit scared now.<br>"... If you don't help us I will smack you so hard your face will be on backwards!" Knuckles had shrunk to half his original size in terror; Shadow might well be commanding officer but it was Rouge who gave the orders around here.

After this display Knuckles was far more enthusiastic to go on this adventure now.  
>"Well it has been a long time since my last good treasure hunt. Alright then I'll help you guys out."<br>"Good." Said rouge simply, knowing she had won the argument (Of course in her mind she was screaming with joy). "AFFIRMATIVE; I SHALL ASSUME THE POSITION." Omega then plodded of towards the shrine with Knuckles shouting after him.  
>"If anything happens to the master emerald, I will find out Omega Don't think I won't!"<br>"STATEMENT NOTED KNUCKLES; DON'T WORRY THE EMERALD IS SAFE UNDER MY CAPABLE HANDS." Omega continued up the shrine steps (which was difficult for him.) as knuckles headed for his home (basically a large wooden shack).  
>"Just need to get my kit." as out of a cupboard in his shack, he pulled out an old gym bag, some sunglasses and his old Stetson hat.<br>"What's with the goofy clothes?" asked Rouge finding it hard not to laugh as knuckles dusted of his hat and put it on. "The bag has my treasure hunting essentials in it; the shades are for when something is incredibly bright and the hat..." he trailed off and started reminiscing. "I've had it since my first hunt; it was given to me by an old friend. However I mostly wear it because..." He turns around dramatically to who he is talking to. "...Stetsons are cool." "Riiight ... well what are we waiting for? Let's go find these weapon pieces!" Rouge said enthusiastically cantering up to the helicopter, Knuckles was curious because of the way she worded her sentence. "Wait a minute; you mean to tell me you don't even know where they are?" asked an increasingly angry Knuckles.

Before anyone could react the master emerald started violently glowing signalling Knuckles to come closer.  
>"What is it master emerald?" Asked Knuckles as he ran up to the glowing rock and then peered into it and saw something; a cavern; which when lead out of revealed... something which made our favourite red echidna (what other famous echidnas are there?) smile. Knuckles turned around slowly, smirking as much as he could ,that being; not very much at all.<br>"What is it echidna?" said Shadow trying desperately not to sound interested.  
>"I know where the first piece is." Knuckles smiled smugly, getting one up on G.U.N especially these three agents was a good feeling.<br>"WHAT!" A surprised bat said with the appropriate gusto. "W... Where is it...? How do you... know... where it is." "Simple the master emerald told me." Knuckles said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and they just weren't smart. "As for where it is... it's on Angel Island."

**That should do chapter 2, sorry about the almost non-existent fight scene... and the terrible pacing. I'm just not a very good writer. Your constructive criticism has been welcome and I am suprised by the reaction. Any way I can see at least three references in that one (hints: 1) Texas beats everyone down! 2) STRANGE ISN'T IT! 3) A memorable line from what Shadow keeps calling Robotnik.) Happy hunting! Any way this one is going to go on for a while there are ten of these ruddy things! And I also want to swap the plot around a bit and possibly add an OC (don't worry he isn't that bad in fact I find him quite humorously weird.) I leave you on this; what incident involved Rouge getting over emotional and a helicopter? The best will get a shout out and I might even integrate it into the story!**

**Next time the first piece of the super weapon is found and yes, the whole thing will be the first temple seen in Indiana Jones (which I don't own of course). Hopefully with the main characters in it I can try and change things up a bit.**

**Until next time farewell and for great villainy! **


	3. Chapter 3 the ancient macguffin temple

Archaeological espionage

**Hello again! Once again thank you for your constructive criticism. Yes I do use too many commas; I also make my sentences waaaay to long, it annoys me as much as you. I did it again didn't I? ****. Anyway a special shout out to ShadowEmpress79 for her lovely review, I didn't know I was funny to begin with! (Another long sentence damn.) Everyone is very professional. Which I would expect from such a great website (flattery will get me nowhere) Reference time! Very well done those who figured out the 1) Red vs Blue season 8. The 2) Sonic the hedgehog the movie. And the 3) Doctor Who new series 6! With that out of the way a disclaimer: I do not own SEGA, its affiliates, characters or anything else that might make a lawyer more than happy to sue me. Now to our first weapon piece in an ancient temple on angle island... (btw I am still waiting for those rouge-helicopter-emotion incidents. I'm not imaginative enou... I mean, I want to include the reader in the story... Yes that's right).**

**Chapter 3- Temple Macguffinfullofdo-hickies**

And now the great adventurers three were on their way. Following a map made by Knuckles using a satellite photo of the island and a scrawl of a line leading to the area. (Drawing isn't easy when you wear mittens.) Soon enough one of the world's greatest treasure hunter was... lost ... on his own home piece of land. Puts some things in to perspective don't it? (Doesn't it?) After what seemed like a long enough time for the sun to come up. Which it had by the way. Our thief Rouge has had enough.  
>"Knuckles do you have any clue where we are going?" she asked with the appropriate moan.<br>"My feet are killin' me here."  
>"Maybe it would have been a better idea not to come out here wearing high heeled boots." Shadow retorted. "Though I must admit we have been walking for 4 hours 19 minutes as of... now. If this continues I might miss my... err... favourite cop show; yeah that's the one." What did you almost say there Shadow?<br>"Rouge. My answer is no ,I'm not lost, I'm never lost (He _LIES!_) and Shadow while I agree with you just leave the bat alone she at least knows what she is doing, now just please just shut up! We're getting close."

And for once in his existence of looking for stuff other than the Master Emerald. He was _actually_ _right _on his hunch on where the thing he was looking for was. When the vines were cut away there was a huge door nearly 12 feet square. On the door was various glyphs of emeralds and words in an ancient language. Knuckles being a veteran treasure hunter had picked up some ancient history which included the echidna's language.

"It is simple echidna, almost like someone had just been taught how to write it. It seems to read 'Warning all those who consider it safe to enter these walls, there are many death traps and angrious creatures. If you able to be overcome these challenges. The veapon piece is available for purchase for grasp by both hands. For this are the temple of Mick Mufinous.' Obviously someone needs to re-take their education." Knuckles smirked; he could see the blind shock coming from Rouge out of the corner of his eye. 'Guess I know who is the better treasure hunter, thief.' He thought blissfully unaware that he was staring into Rouges eyes.  
>"Knuckie, you know it's rude to stare." Yeah Knuckles found it hard to suppress his admiration for the fanged creature. It was now known by everyone but him. He suppressed the thoughts his body could not. Rouge knew this and flashed a cheeky smile; of course her heart inside was leaping for joy. Every time knuckles made an (unintentional) display of affection Rouge always felt... weird. She had put it down to love ages ago but the question was why? Knuckles was a strong and dare she think it, handsome young man. However Knuckles was not exactly the smartest guy she had met and probably wouldn't be so happy with her favourite pastime. Sad how fate works in that way really.<p>

By now both of them were unintentionally staring at each other. Shadow decided now was a good time to make a sarcastic comment. He hoped to ease the tension between the two, remind them of the mission and most importantly humour himself.  
>"Sorry to break you two love sick puppies out of your intimate moment, but I must remind you that we are, though I hate to say it as such, here on business so I suggest you confirm the romance or get back to the job!" Shadow was laughing quietly before he realised a spiked fist and a high heeled boot flying into each one of his eyes. Using reflexes to rival Sonic he used his skates to dart away and pulled a Chaos emerald of all things out of... somewhere. Where I don't know. Maybe he has stolen Amy's hammer space... Do I want to know?<br>"Whoa Shadow where how have you gotten that? More to the point. Where were you keeping it?" Rouge asked in the most innocent way possible, she can hide affection for people but when it comes to shiny things she can resist them as much as a magpie can. Not at all if you don't know what a magpie is.  
>"Rouge you should know why I have a chaos emerald on me if you decided to attend the last team meeting and not go out shopping with your friends..." Rouge started giving the reason with a growl.<br>"Shadow it was my friend's wedding! I was helping her with dress shopping! Or did you forget about that!?" Uh Oh Rouge was getting upset again abandon the argument Shadow! Wait a minute this already happened. I know what happens in this story. Strange.  
>"Sorry Rouge..." Stated in the normal sarcastic tone that the Ultimate life form had taken after finding out his past; not being happy with it and not caring much about anything after that. Everything is now meaningless... but still funny, to Shadow. "I should have known. But this should let you feel a bit happier. If you knew were this power vessel was hidden then you would never attempt to touch it!"<br>"You don't mean..." Rouge stated horrified at the thought going through her mind.  
>"Yes! I have learnt how to swallow and regurgitate it so I can use the emerald without fear of it being stolen! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Shadow turns crazy every so often. Also yes even I the narrator find that indescribably horrific to think about. But I have to because it intrigues my scientific brain. How does he manage to fit such a large emerald into his mouth? Do I want to know? (repeated line ftw)<p>

Two minutes passed which felt like two extremely awkward years for our trio. Knuckles' only thought was 'I need these to idiots out of my way or else I'll never get this done'.  
>"Listen you two stop arguing about the emerald and help me find a switch or button for this door will you?"<br>And so they searched around the door, looking for a switch, an out of place stone or similar. After brushing away a group of moss, Knuckles found a strange indent, two of them, when Knuckles looks at it closer; it seems that his knuckles fit perfectly into the holes. So he walked back and, with Rouge still climbing on it, charged at the door and punched it with his full force. This sent the door flying, with Rouge still connected.  
>"Whaa! Dammit Knuckles how about a little warning next time!"<br>"Sorry batgirl, maybe next time you shouldn't look for a secret door button... on the door."

And with that, the trio were in, walking quietly through the temple.

... Still walking...

...  
>...<p>

**UNTIL SUDDENLY**

"Whoa! STOP!" Knuckles shouted at the top of his lungs.  
>"What is it Knuckles?" Asked Rouge, already knowing the answer, she just wanted to spare Shadow the indignity. A trap was ahead. Knuckles pointed at a particular symbol at the wall.<br>"It's the symbol for a trap in Echidna, there weren't very good with memory were the echidnas."  
>"Says the Echidna who got lost on his own island." Shadow said in a dry mocking tone.<br>"Shut up or I'll beat you up again, hear me?" Shadow while angry at the line, acknowledged Knuckles threat.  
>Knuckles searched his bag for a particular something; he then found it, a small bag... filled with marbles.<br>"Never go treasure hunting without marbles." Rouge and Shadow rolled their eyes; Rouge because it was a very old fashioned way of hunting and Shadow because he swore he saw this on a cartoon once when he had to babysit Cream (I am so writing that).  
>Knuckles tossed a marble along the temple floor; it bounced, rolled, and then hit a stone on the floor which sunk, then there was a flash of metal and the marble had gone.<br>"Great, crushers." Sighed an exasperated Rouge, crushers were the most over used mechanical trap.  
>After slowly making their way past the rather large pressure plate. Stopping only to save Knuckles after his hat got knocked off. Our intrepid explorers carried on through the mysterious temple which you would've thought Knuckles, Sonic or any of the others would have found by now. Even if it was a giant floating continent.<p>

After a while walking the two thirds of Team Dark plus one Echidna made their way to their next peril, a huge pit.  
>"Well this is a problem." Yes Shadow it is; it is a huge pit after-all.<br>"Well it isn't for us; I am a bat with wings after all. And Knuckles... how can you glide Knuckie?" Knuckles simply tapped his nose and smiled; he knows, I know as well, do you?  
>"Well I'm not carrying Shadow, it would ruin my glide, you've had to carry him before haven't you Rouge?"<br>Before Rouge could respond Shadow had taken a run up and leapt, using his hover skates to clear the gap as if he were double jumping. **(This is a video game universe after all.)  
><strong>The echidna and the bat just watched in a slight bit of awe. When did he learn that trick?  
>"Come on you two. You seemed to brag about how easy that gap is to get over." Shadow said with a smirk.<p>

**And so, the trio find their prize. It seems the last trap was a corridor that would take the adventurer's hours to get down. Shadow just Chaos controlled them over there. Knuckles and Rouge didn't mind, they got to hold hands (aawwww.).**

And there it was; gleaming in a shaft of sunlight. The piece looked like a cage, or the framework of an upside down pyramid, made out of a familiar form of crystal.  
>"Looks like this is where you'd put the master emerald" Knuckles noted to himself.<br>"It looks like a huge chunk of chaos emerald." Rouge added, looking at it with her jeweller's magnifier, checking the potential value of it. Not to sell mind you, but the more expensive gems in her collection the better. "Though it's less well structured, couldn't store any power in this thing." Rouge pulled an inquisitive face. The type pulled when you find a weird thing in your attic or basement that you got for Christmas once but you've no idea what it is or what it does.  
>"Now Rouge, why would it store energy? It's meant to draw the energy out, channel it down the barrel and out. It'd be like a gun clip which doesn't release bullets if it stored energy." Give Shadow something he knows guns, mystical or mechanical.<p>

It was then that Knuckles saw a huge stone tablet with a mural on it, depicting seven characters, each with a piece of the weapon underneath it. The final three were under a massive depiction of the Master emerald.  
>"Hey guys, look at this. These must be the seven guardians put in place to protect the cannon pieces."<br>"Seven emeralds, seven guardians. That makes sense." Shadow said plainly... Wait shouldn't it be ten guardians for ten pieces? Come on echidnas now you make no sense at all.  
>"That's strange, these some of these people look, modern, but this mural is over a thousand years old. Unless... Knuckles get out of the way! Let me see this." Rouge pushed Knuckles over and put her eye as close to the gap between tiles she could. A shifting pattern of bright colours. "Whoa..." Rouge barely exhaled. The problem with looking at psychedelic bright lights while really tired should be plain to everyone, Rouge started tripping out.<br>"Rouge... What did you see...?" Knuckles put a tentative hand on Rouges shoulder and slowly pulled her away from the wall.  
>"That is so cool! It's a shifting wall, self updating with the times. Big piece of Chaos technology. It's like... your social networking sites... Only ancient!... Whoa! Your fur is really red..." With that, the bat thief fell flat on her face asleep.<br>"Well... Now that we know how it works..." Knuckles continued to look at the guardians. "Let's see who these people are."

Wiping away dust, cobwebs, and Rouges lipstick. Knuckles finally saw a detailed view of the guardians:  
>In the middle, with the grey chaos emerald, stood a huge silver wolf, ancient robes flowing in every direction.<br>With the Yellow, a young monkey girl with headphones and roller skates dancing to some unknown beat (Huh, a bit of a contrast).  
>Next to the Green emerald, Stood an old human man with a big beard with a watch on his left wrist, a pocket watch on his chest, and a brandishing a grandfather clock like a drunken cricket player.<br>Next to the purple floated a cat who wasn't very amused with the situation he was in.  
>Next to the red emerald was a bat floating mysteriously goading someone to come over to see her, reminded Knuckles of Rouge, 'not the rather, attractive way she... holds herself, obviously.' Knuckles thought to himself.<br>On the side of the cyan gem stood... Big the cat? Rest assuredly, It was Big the cat, he probably doesn't know he's a guardian, should be easy to get the piece from him.  
>Finally there was the blue, a veiled bride, Bouquet of flowers and all.<p>

All of this was very interesting to Knuckles; finding out about the thing he was guarding for his entire life without reason was a comforting thing to do. He glanced over to Shadow, who was looking at the Master emerald mural very intently.  
>"Shadow, what is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."<br>"It's just the guardians of the Master emerald." Well it would be Knuckles and... Wait 'guardians'? As in the plural? Sure enough the Master emerald had three guardians: Knuckles, Chaos (Who Knuckles had to remind himself that he was a good guy before chuckling. Which of course he doesn't do) And Tikal, the spiritual guardian of the Master emeralds spirit (obvious much?). Shadow was looking the longest at Tikal. "I wonder. Who is she?"  
>"Who Tikal? One of the echidnas from before the first Chaos disaster, she's the only one able to calm him, ever." Shadows interest piqued at that point.<br>"One who can sooth the anger of a god? Interesting... Anyway. It's been a cool history lesson Knuckles but does this give us any clues on the whereabouts of the weapon pieces?"

After a bit more scanning of the wall Knuckles found the answer, underneath each weapon piece was a picture of their current location. The cage was under the Master emerald along with what looked liked the barrel and...  
>"The Omega Symbol?" (What a twist).<br>The cage had it being held by Knuckles, Shadow, and Rouge (Just as the stone tablet predicted.) While the Omega symbol simply had 'On duty' written underneath it. Shadow took pictures of all the pieces and their locations onto Rouges phone.  
>"You know the code onto Rouges phone?" Knuckles asked inquisitively, and not because he was worried that Shadow had gotten it from Rouge in a friendly or possibly more sort of way.<br>"Of course I do, I'm a spy. I have to learn everything about everyone near me. To be honest I could tell you more about Rouge then she would or could." Well that's a bit creepy.

Rouge slowly got up from her sleep state, looked around a bit, then pointed in the vague direction of one of the pieces.  
>"Hey! What's that doing there? That's meant to be in my bed, waiting for me to come home when I sleep with it cuddled up in my arms." Shadow looked over to the wall and saw the picture of a rather large jewel he had put down as the power capacitor.<br>"Rouge, do you sleep with a big gem like a teddy bear?" Knuckles asked genuinely confused (When is he not?)  
>"Well... That and a picture of you, you big, strong... red..." She then collapsed into a rather disturbed Knuckles' shoulder.<br>"I... Think it's time we left, don't you think so Shadow?" Knuckles said, not moving at all.  
>"Uh... yeah. Look I'm sorry but when she's drunk or high... she gets like this. Just leave it no note." Knuckles nodded, put Rouge over his shoulder in the fireman's lift position...<br>"You could've just put her down."  
>And went over to the cage. He lifted it and felt the trap begin to start up.<br>"Oh crap." Knuckles quietly muttered under his breath as the room started to collapse around him. Shadow let out a sigh as he casually walked over to him, muttered:  
>"I thought you were a professional at this."<br>Lifted his emerald emerald (What other colour should an emerald be?) and Chaos controlled all for pieces of cargo out, to the Master emerald shrine.

Omega greeted them in the usual manner.  
>"HAS THE MISSION BEEN COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY? I WILL NOT ACCEPT DAWDLING, SLACKING OR OTHER CAUSES FOR FAILURE BASED ELIMINATION."<br>"Calm down Omega we know for sure where three of them are. One's right here, one's Rouges current Teddy bear. And the third is..." Shadow did not know how to break the news.  
>"YES?" Shadow decided on the blunt response. He and Knuckles pointed straight at Omega and said in tandem.<br>"You."

Omegas happiness on being part of one of the world's biggest super-weapons was without restrain.

**And there you are readers, the longest wait I've put anyone through, but hey. It's done and is rather long. I hope I didn't bore you with that little historical romp near the end. Anyway references! There was a lot so make sure to have a go at them!  
>1) Marbles, traps and ancient tombs? A movie based on a 90's show should give you the answer.<br>2) Rouge carrying Shadow and Omega for that matter. But when?  
>3) A cat that ignores gravity and isn't impressed by the situation? Those who watch Gmod machinima should know this.<br>4) What a twist? Who's famous for that?  
>5) Sonic Adventure 1 that's all you're getting.<br>****Well we'll re-join our heroes in chapter after next. For next chapter we introduce a rival in the chase for the very valuable weapon pieces.**

**Next, Chapter 4: can the Mafia give me a new bottle of whiskey, brandy, wine, beer...**

**Until next time! **


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